A playbook for UK councils

AI Forward: the council playbook for 2026

How councils move from AI pilots to a programme that works across the whole organisation. Three areas to change, two ways of working and one shared way to measure value, mapped to your senior leadership team.

For Chief Executives, CIOs, S151 Officers, Monitoring Officers and service directors. Published October 2026.

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Cover of AI Forward: the council playbook for 2026

Almost every council is exploring AI. Few have turned it into a programme across the organisation.

The blockers are mostly organisational: who owns AI, how it’s funded and how pilots reach live services.

  • 95%
    of councils are using or exploring AI, but only 7% see themselves as leaders
  • 38%
    have a senior owner for AI
  • 41%
    have a specific AI policy
  • 68%
    say they are not ready on data

Source: LGA AI surveys, 2025 (68% figure from 2024).

What the playbook gives you

A way to organise the effort and move faster, with a named leader for every area.

Three areas to change

Technology Foundations, led by the CIO. People Empowerment, led by the Chief Executive. Service Transformation, owned by each service lead.

Two ways of working

The Innovation Engine gets AI work from idea to value quickly. Guardrails for Growth sets decision rights by risk, so low-risk work goes ahead quickly and bigger decisions get the right sign-off.

One way to measure value

The Value Lens gives the whole council a shared language for value. It has seven value types, from cash savings to statutory compliance, and every project is scored 0 to 3 at the start and again at each gate.

For every area you get the top 3 to 5 first moves, key metrics with national figures to compare against, and the value each move is expected to deliver.

Find your section

Every area has one accountable leader. In many councils one director holds several of these roles, so read every section that applies to you.

01Leadership & SponsorshipAccountable leader: Chief Executive

Make AI a council-wide agenda: use it visibly, own it at SLT, fund it and back champions in every department.

02Technology FoundationsAccountable leader: CIO

Decide your AI stack, cloud and models, get data where AI can reach it, and set standards for AI builds and purchases.

03Skills by Role and Workforce EvolutionAccountable leader: Director of HR / OD

Build skills by role through doing and co-building, and redesign roles and career paths for AI with the unions.

04Innovation EngineAccountable leader: Director of Transformation

Offer five ways to use the Engine, from a one-day Prototyping Day to leading the council’s priority challenges.

05Guardrails for GrowthAccountable leader: Monitoring Officer, SIRO and S151 Officer

Set decision rights by risk, keep a live view of every AI tool, and run one business case route with continue, change or stop gates.

06Customer Contact & DemandAccountable leader: Head of Customer Services

Resolve contact first time, shift to self-service and absorb AI-generated inbound.

07Legal & GovernanceAccountable leader: Monitoring Officer

Meet FOI, SAR and complaint deadlines at scale, and automate redaction and committee admin.

08Adult Social CareAccountable leader: Director of Adult Social Services

Give social workers time back on case notes and triage, then move to predicting and preventing need.

09Education & SENDAccountable leader: Director of Education & Inclusion

Hit the 20-week EHCP deadline and get ahead of SEND and school transport demand.

10Children’s Social CareAccountable leader: Director of Children’s Services

Make front-door decisions faster and more consistent, and free up time for direct practice.

11HousingAccountable leader: Director or Head of Housing

Meet Awaab’s Law timescales and triage repairs, then predict failures and homelessness.

12Planning & GrowthAccountable leader: Chief Planning Officer

Automate validation and triage, handle AI-generated objections, and shift officers to judgement.

13Finance & RevenuesAccountable leader: S151 Officer

Automate finance and collection, detect fraud, and forecast instead of just reporting.

Take a look inside

A few pages from the playbook. Get the full version below.

Page 1Cover
Page 5The framework and who leads it
Page 10The value key
Page 20Top 3 to 5 to start with
Page 33Key metrics

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